Posted
by
Unknown Lameron Tuesday November 20, 2012 @04:15AM
from the get-one-for-the-cat dept.

crookedvulture writes "Intel's Next Unit of Computing has finally made its way into the hands of reviewers. The final revision is a little different from the demo unit that made the rounds earlier this year, but the concept remains the same. Intel has crammed what are essentially ultrabook internals into a tiny box measuring 4" x 4" x 2". A mobile Core i3 CPU provides the horsepower, and there's a decent array of I/O ports: USB, HDMI, and Thunderbolt. Users can add their own memory, storage, and wireless card to the system, which will be sold without an OS for around $300. Those extras raise the total price, bringing the NUC closer to Mac Mini territory. The Apple system has a bigger footprint, but it also boasts a faster processer and the ability to accommodate notebook hard drives with higher storage capacities than the mSATA SSDs that are compatible with the NUC. If Intel can convince system builders to adopt the NUC, the future of the PC could be a lot smaller."

Not a troll, just a comment that is more a history reference, in a world where its been impossible to buy a PC without an OS for years http://www.zdnet.com/top-five-pc-manufacturers-fail-naked-pc-test-3039286228/ [zdnet.com] this is an article describing how difficult it was in 2007. The truth is Microsoft created the [propaganda] term "Naked PC" for "its dramatic value and as a means for creating the impression that it is evil to sell computers without operating systems because they might be used for so-called software piracy" http://www.linfo.org/naked_pc.html [linfo.org]

Yes because MAC invented small PC's its not like the microATX was introduced in December 1997. The original
release was January 22, 2005 for the MAC Mini. Lets ignore the rich history of SFF PC's from the likes of Shuttle [I have owned many] http://www.shuttle.com/ [shuttle.com] or even new popular brands like Revo from Acer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Aspire_Revo [wikipedia.org] Which oddly I also own.

You have the choice between 2 gigabit ports or a thunderbolt port w/o ethernet. But not both. Intel's low end offerings seem to be deliberately crippled so as to not complete with their higher end stuff. You add in the memory and drive on one of these and you're about $100 short of a mac mini which has gigabit ethernet and thunderbolt together plus usb 3.0 and no fscking power brick.